Over 10,577 patients, including 195 children, have gone without a bed in Irish hospitals this May according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s monthly TrolleyWatch Figures.
The top 5 most overcrowded hospitals were:
- University Hospital Limerick (2,285)
- Cork University Hospital (1,105)
- University Hospital Galway (858)
- Tallaght University Hospital (638)
- Mater University Hospital (622)
Commenting on the figures, INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
Despite winter being well and truly over, we are continuing to see an unacceptable number of people being treated on trolleys, chairs or in other inappropriate bed spaces in Irish hospitals this month. The fact that we have seen over 1,310 children on trolleys so far this year is a huge cause of concern.
The HSE have now allowed us to get in a situation where over five hundred people a day on trolleys in May has been completely normalised and does not seem to warrant an emergency response.
It’s time now for the HSE and Department of Health to bring all stakeholders together, whether that be through the Emergency Department Taskforce or another forum to discuss the clinical implications the recruitment moratorium is having on the ability to provide safe and timely care.
The situation in the Midwest is of huge concern to our organisation. There has been an 23% increase in the number of people on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick . Despite an expert team being in the hospital for the month of May, there was only six days where there was less than one hundred people on trolleys on the Dooradoyle campus.
Overcrowding is not just a problem confined to the Midwest, we are seeing dangerous levels of overcrowding in Cork and Dublin. The HSE must not let this problem continue to grow over the summer months. They must take action now and immediately end their recruitment embargo on nursing and midwifery grades.